Day 2: Interlude

We're finally getting back to some zombie action here at Wanted: BRAINS!  I'm doing some military training, but from everything I've heard from my friends I'll have a fair amount of free time here so I'm hoping to get a few games in while I'm here.

*          *          *

 

Everyone was quiet for a while as they headed out of the woods and back to town. 

 



 

"I never thought I'd say I'm glad to be leaving Eagle Rock," Angel said as Ahmed drove the Carmen Ghia.  "That was insane!  Where'd those things come from?"

 

"I don't know," Ahmed responded slowly.  "It was like they came from nowhere.  It must have been something local though.  Look," he gestured out the windows around him, "we don't see any of the things anywhere around."

 

 

In the Land Rover, Bob and Joe were thinking pretty much the same thing.

 

"I can't wait to get away from here - that was just a little too much action!" Bob said.

 

Joe agreed, "Yeah, I can't wait to get home where it's safe.  That was just nuts!"

 

"I don't know what we would have done if we'd been bow hunting," Bob mused.  "We never would have gotten out of there alive!"  He shuddered at the thought of it.  After a minute he added, "Just in case, pull in at the first sporting goods store you see and we'll pick up more ammo."

 

 

But will it be safe at home?

 











Got Yer Zed Huntin' License?

By now I'm sure you've noticed the Zombie Bloggers Association logo to the right.  No, it's not a real organization, as far as I can tell, but just another part of the fun.  Along with that I thought it would be fun to post my Zed Hunter's Permit since I just picked up my PA hunting license.  But when I did a search for them, I got a multitude of different designs.  Here are a few:

A local permit

A state permit

National permits

A regional permit

The "World Class" permit (there are

also other international permits)

And the emergency issue permit

It's a consumers nightmare.  Which permit to go for?  Which offers the best opportunities?  I guess I'll just have to take one of each.

The Darkest Hour

I've been debating this post for a while now.  A friend of mine, Doug Jeffreys, the sharp eyed among you will recognize his name from the occasional comment he posts to my blogs, wrote a novel that you guys might be interested in and published it himself as an e-book.  On the one hand Doug's a great guy and I don't want to hurt his feelings with anything I might say about his book.  Or it's more like I don't want him to hurt me with anything I might say about his book.  He's a pretty big guy and could pretty much squash my head between his thumb and forefinger like a grape.  Not to mention that his kid's a Marine.  On the other hand, Doug is a great guy and I'm sure he can take anything I might say about his book.  Actually, Doug is one of two friends I have who have self-published e-books, but the other one isn't about fighting zombies so you probably won't be interested in it.

Anyway, Doug's book is entitled The Darkest Hour.  I paid $0.99 for it on Kindle.  For that price you really can't go wrong.  I read it straight through and I think it took me about 3 hours to read it.  $0.33 per hour can't be beat for reasonably good entertainment.  Doug talked up his book as a thinking man's zombie story.  I have to agree with him.  It really is.  To some degree it's the same old, same old, but I really don't think that can be avoided.  I mean, ultimately, the book's about fighting zombies, right?  So there's going to be a certain amount of it that looks - on the surface - like other fighting zombie stories.  Doug explained that he did this on purpose - he followed the classic zombie/infection/post-apocalypse sequence to demonstrate the difference between his story and the typical ones that are out there.  Unfortunately, some of the uniqueness of it is actually in the backstory rather than the main plot, although there is one large chunk of plot that stands out.  Perhaps this will allow for a prequel and some novels that develop other parts of the story. 

The critters in his book aren't classic zombies, however, which he considers to be undead, but are people infected with a virus making them act like what we're used to calling zombies.  I won't give away the story, but basically terrorists spread the virus, eventually succumbing themselves to its ravages.  The hero, Duke, survives by retreating into the woods after his wife and daughter are killed by the zeds.  Two things give him pleasure: killing the infected as a form of revenge and helping other survivors to safety.  In time, he unites with various characters and groups, who in the end are able to return to a relatively normal, though depopulated world.

I'll just make a couple of observations about the characters and setting.  The hero is loosely based on himself.  Sorry, Doug, you didn't hide yourself too well, but as Doug said, he knows himself better than anyone else!  Many, if not most of the characters are loosely based on people he knows in one way or another as well.  Nope, you didn't hide that too well, either!  (And all despite the standard disclaimer to the contrary at the beginning of the book.)  The setting is also made up of mostly real places (if not all - I'm not familiar with some of the places he described), which he calculated adds to the terror by associating the events of the story with places readers have been to or seen.

Generally speaking the book is well written, but it could have benefited from some thorough proofreading and kick-butt criticism.  Two factors mar the book.  First is a feeling of incompleteness.  In some parts, it seems as though he didn't develop his outline into full story format.  You feel like you're reading his notes rather than the final version.  There are parts where I want to know more, though there are parts where the story is pretty full.  Second is a number of 'typos'.  This was surprising as having been around Doug for a few years now, I know that he writes very well.  These mostly take the form of incorrect capitalization, disjointed sentences (as though he changed a thought, but didn't fully correct the sentence, etc.), and some places where the tense shifts inappropriately.  There are also a couple (literally) of factual errors, but most people wouldn't notice those at all in all honesty and they don't play a factor in the story.  This was surprising also, as I know Doug to be very thorough and he seriously did a lot of research to be sure of the facts used in the book.  These errors simply involve the operation of military HMMWVs and their associated equipment, which you probably wouldn't know unless you've operated one.  The story could be changed in minor ways to account for them without missing a beat.  Overall though, I've read a lot of paper and ink books that didn't have as good a story, and a few that weren't much better in terms of typos.

I asked Doug to read this review before I posted it and to feel free to respond, rebut or whatever he wanted - even offering to post his response to the blog.  He gave me some explanation and told me to go ahead and post the review as was.  In fairness to him, and to be as accurate as possible with you, I did make some changes to the review so that I wasn't being misleading.  The story was originally written as a screenplay.  In rewriting it, some of the tense, grammar, etc., was lost in translation.  Doug did have a good proofreader, but maybe a bit too good - he was driving Doug nuts and in Doug's own haste and frustration, Doug went ahead with publication rather than go through more corrections.  When you realize that this is his first effort, you can understand the errors and look forward to subsequent editions and prequels/sequels to the story.  They will absolutely get better.  Good job, Doug, and best wishes with future writing.

If you can forgive or ignore the negative facets, you're in for a treat.  Especially after you've read the book and you go back and think about some of the elements that aren't completely voiced, such as the political and terrorism linked backstory, and some elements that are, such as Juice's part of the story (you'll have to read it yourself - I'm not going to tell you).  These add a menacing element that really becomes apparent after the reading, as the reader ponders the consequences of the decline of society.  And again, whatever you think, for $0.99 you can't beat the price for a couple of hours of entertainment.  If nothing else, show your support for a budding author who actually has original ideas for a change.

More Figs and some Transport

I need to pull everything out and get a good zombie game going again, but in the mean time, I've gotten some painting done.  First up are Rebel Minis' Modern Spies set.  Unfortunately, they are all the same pose and in this pic they look mostly to have the same paintjob, but I assure you they are individual.  I painted each one a different color, like they were trying out various colors for night camouflage.  There is, in no particular order (mainly 'cause I don't know which one's which), black, dark grey, dark blue, dark brown and a dark purple/plum. 

Next up, we have Rebel Minis' Gang Task Force.  These guys are in your basic olive-ish green with black equipment.

Finally, my government contractors/gray ops/black ops outfits have some new transportation - a black Ford Explorer (HO scale from River Point Minis) and a black MH-6 (QRF).  These boys get around!  Additional equipment installed in these vehicles is classified.  Sorry.

Sorry about the picture quality, they all have a reddish cast because of the dark red walls in the room, as you can see in the background.  Next time, I'll light them differently.

Bio-Tech Research Facility Revisited

A few weeks ago when I revealed my super-secret underground bio-tech research facility, I didn't have any pictures that showed the full scope of it.  I promised I'd put some up and in lieu of getting a game in towards my campaign recently, here are the pics of the facility with an explanation. 

The bases for each level are foam core board - green for ground level with it's nice grassy surface; white for the sterile floors in the lab itself.  The walls were built of 1/16" x 1" balsa with doors cut into them where needed.  I built the major walls first - that would be the outside and long interior walls.  Then I cut the smaller interior walls to fit it all together.  I didn't draw any "blueprints" first.  I had an idea in my head of what I wanted and just went for it.  In planning it and laying it out, I was operating on a 1" = 10' basis.  Actually, I think 15mm should be slightly larger than that, but this kept room size calculations simple.

Here's the ground floor.  The grey paper square is the parking lot.  Of course, every super-secret underground bio-tech research facility needs a parking lot!  Where are those scientists and administrators going to park otherwise?  I thought about putting the little yellow lines on it, but that would have been a couple of hours of work just for aesthetics.  Maybe I'll add them someday.  To the left is the furnace room with the chimney for the crematorium.  On the right is the main entrance - a small foyer with elevator at the top of the building and stairs underneath (in case the electricity goes out and the elevator doesn't work, of course!).  At the bottom is the ventilation building with the a/c unit and duct work.  The buildings are all painted green and brown for camoflage so that no one will notice them standing around this parking lot out in the middle of some Nebraska cornfield.  I should have added a generator building so that the electricity won't go out, but didn't think of it at the time.

Next is the first subfloor.  (The pictures are all oriented the same as the first so you should be able to pick out the stairs/elevator and the crematorium chimney, and we'll go from there.)  Immediately upon exiting the vestibule by the stairs/elevator, you enter the lobby where there is a security desk with 24/7 security.  The rooms adjoining this one are the president's secretary's office, which gives on to the president's office, at the top.  At the bottom of the pic is the security office.  Once you gain access to the building proper, there are two corridors.  At the top of the pic are offices, between the corridors are two conference rooms, and at the bottom are the offices of the division heads and the lunchroom.  Yes, even eggheads have to eat sometime!

The second subfloor contains the labs with a central corridor.  At either end of the row of labs at the top are small storage spaces/offices and there is one at the left of the bottom row of labs as well.

That brings us to the third subfloor.  This level houses (from the right) the containment units, the morgue/autopsy rooms, and the crematorium.  I did a little finagling with wood to make the cremation units looks like cremation units, rather than just a wall or block of some kind.  I used 1/4" x 1/2" square balsa for the base of the cremation units, then built an upright to divide it into two units, with a crosspiece at the top front.  The sharp-eyed among you will notice that there are two rooms at the end of the containment rooms without doors.  I don't remember now what I meant those to be - I think they were where the machinery for the containment units are located and the pipes/lines for the cremation units.

So there you have one super-secret underground bio-tech research facility.  Now go build one yourself and let me get back to gaming and painting!  ;o)

Super-Secret Biotech Lab Breached!

A few weeks ago my usual game group wanted to give a zombie game a try.  I built a super-secret multi-level underground biotech research facility out of balsa and foam core board for them to explore and came up with several parties for the players to run.  There was facility security trying to keep people out of the building, the in-house biohazard containment unit trying to contain the crisis, local law enforcement responding to a call of strange goings-on, a spec ops team sent to find out what IS going on, a group of G-men with a warrant to find out what's going on, a bunch of local thugs who had heard the place was abandoned and just wanted to explore, and a group of local survivalists who also heard that the place was abandoned and decided to make it their new headquarters.  It seems to me there was a group of dedicated zombie hunters who had heard that they could find the cure here as well.

Each group had a different mode of entrance as well - except that I ran out of entrances. Security and the biohazard team were already in the building.  The thugs, cops and G-men all went in the front door.  The spec ops team went in the air vent - and I think the zombie hunters did too - and the survivalists went down the chimney.  The survivalists found themselves in the crematorium, adjacent to the mortuary and juts down the hall from a fractured containment unit.  They spent the entire game fighting a handful of zombies from when they jumped into the room without looking where they were going first.  The spec ops team spent almost the entire game in the air vents, moving from room to room watching what was happening and gathering intel.  Near the end of the game, they rifled the executive offices and bugged out without anyone seeing them.  Everyone else was involved to some extent with battling zeds for several turns before they finally managed to kill all the escaped zeds and contain the disaster.  I forget which team it was that found the containment room and discovered that that was where the zeds were escaping from.  They kept shooting zeds in the room and stray rounds would knock out other containment units and release more zeds.  Finally they retreated into the hall and waited for the zombies to exit the room before shooting. 

The survivalists in the crematorium fighting zeds hand-to-hand

The zombie hunters intelligently taking on zombies in the labs.

At the end of the hall are the elevator (left) and stairs (right)

connecting to other levels.

The spec ops guys on the right, having exited the air shaft to

explore a room and the biohazard containment team searching

for zeds.

If I'd had more time, I would have built some simple furnishings for the rooms, just to give them some 3-D obstacles.  I have an idea of how I wanted each room laid out, so it would just be the time of building the little things and glueing or at least sticking them in place temporarily.

I thought I had some pics showing the whole set-up and complete floors, but I must have blanked them from the camera, as lighting was bad.  At any rate, you get the idea.  I might shoot them again just to put here, and/or use them in another setting.  (Hmmmm, top secret facilities in Yerbouti?  Not that anyone in Yerbouti knows about!) 



A Couple of New Figs

Rather than catching up, I'm falling farther behind.  I just have a couple of things to put up here today.  First up are Rebel Minis Irish Hitmen.  For the zed campaign, they are just more zombie hunters, but they might come in handy if I branch out some. 

Although I haven't been able to get a game in lately (hopefully later this week), for my birthday, my wife got me this rather amusing tome:

Although not as hilarious as the author bills himself, it is a fun book to pick up and browse from time to time.

I also have to note that the wife actually recorded Zombieland for me one day just on the whim that I might want to watch it.  Had I known it had Woody Harrelson in it before hand I probably wouldn't have, but I have to admit it was a reasonably decent film, although it has zombies running (!) in it.  Heresy, I say!

Until next time!

Day 1c: Back to the Cabin

Wow!  It's been a full month since my last post.  Lots going on - family stuff and military mostly - and not enough time to post. 

Got the kids into bed and sat down to watch The Walking Dead last night.  The wife came down a few minutes later and sat down on the couch with me.  I said, "You might want to change the channel" and handed her the remote, knowing that she wouldn't appreciate zombie brains splattered across the screen.  Instead, she watched for a few minutes, then started asking me about the characters, what's going on, where are they, etc.  I have to admit, it was the first episode I've seen this season, so I wasn't entirely sure.  In the end, she watched one and a half episodes with me.  I did have to remind her a couple of time that I told her she might want to change the channel, but she kept watching!  This morning when she came in from walking the dog and saw I was doing a zombie game, she asked how it was going, then said, "Don't worry about it, we've all wanted to shoot Darryl at some time."  Had to laugh at my wife quoting from The Walking Dead!

Well, we're finally on to the third adventure here: the zombie hunters are figuring out what's going on (that is, I'm getting the hang of the rules) but they still have to make it back to the safety (?) of the cabin and their cars, and decide what to do from there.  At first, they thought since they were running from the fire tower, that the zombies would be behind them, but they found out in their last adventure that the zeds can be anywhere so  they are going to be more careful this time. 

The cabin and outhouse are actually from Eric Hotz's Whitewash City 25mm Old West collection.  I just shrunk them down to about 15mm/18mm size and printed them on regular paper.  They were just a tad small, but worked pretty well.

Initial Move:
Angel rolls a 3 so the team moves 6-1/2" in their first move.  The team moves on to the board with Bob watching the right, Angel and Ahmed watching their front, and Joe watching the left.  I roll a 2 for number of zombies, plus the ZAL gives me 3 to start.  Is zed activity slowing down already?  (Ha!  Never!)  Zombies are placed left front, right front and rear.  The team's surrounded.  Sort of. 

Turn 1:
Fortunately for them, the zeds roll a 6 on their initial activation and can't move.  The team rolls a 2 and will try to squeeze through between the zeds to their front.  Angel rolls a 3 again letting the team have a reasonable move, but probably not enough. 

Turn 2:
The activation rolls tie with 1s a piece leaving everyone in place for the turn.  The team checks their ammunition now knowing that nasty surprises could await them around any turn.

Turn 3:
The zeds rolls a 5, so can't move, but the team rolls a 6(!) and also can't move.  This is starting to look like Sitzkrieg all over again. 

Turn 4:
Again the activation roll is tied 1s.  No movement on either side. 

Turn 5: 
And this time it happens - the zeds activate with a 3, but the team is still immobile with a 6.  All right, zombies - bring it on!  Bob is charged by the zombie on the right.  The one on the left can't quite reach Joe, though.  (oops, directions reversed in the photo - Bob is on the left and Joe is on the right.  I wrote the descriptions from their perspective.)

 Bob fires while the zombie is still moving and rolls a 6, 2 x 3s and a 1, giving him two hits.  He rolls an OD and is safe from having to melee the nasty critter.  Joe only fires one barrel of his shotgun just in case, rolling a 6, a 4 and 2 x 1s and scores one hit.  He misses the OD, but the zed is knocked down. 

Only one zombie is attracted to the gunfire and appears to their left rear. 

Turn 6:
Again!  The zombies activate with a 3 while the team is rooted in place with a 6!  What is going on?  Have they lost their nerve?  This does not bode well for the future!

At least Angel thinks to check their back and sees the two zombies coming up from the rear.  They won't be surprised if they get stuck here another turn.  Joe's zombie regains his feet and charges, so he fires his second round.  No hits!  This is going to get interesting!  Angel fires past Ahmed and also gets no hits.  Bob has a pump shotgun so he chambers another shell and lets loose: 3 x 6s and a 1.  He gets his two hits but fails to OD the zombie, knocking it back and down again.  With one at their feet and two more closing in from behind, the team is having trouble with their zed control this time.  Fortunately, the six shots yield no new zombies this time around.

Turn 7:
This time the zeds roll a 6, rooting them in place, while the team just passes with a 5.  And they're not hanging around to see what happens!  But wouldn't you know it - Angel rolls a 5, slowing the team down to 5-1/2" for the turn.  They have their camp in sight and are looking forward to its security, such as it may be.  Everyone reloads on the go.

Turn 8:
Again there is no activity - both the zeds and the team fail their activation. 

Turn 9:
Everyone is active this time around, with the team moving first.  Angel rolls a 4, slowing the team to 6" - they are just keeping up with the zombies. 

Turn 10:
Both sides roll a 5 so the zombies fail to activate while the team just passes.  Angel only slows them down a 1/2" this time so they bolt into the cabin and lock the door.  Safe!  Or so they think. . .

At the last minute, Bob thinks to check both rooms of the cabin.  Yes, they are clear.  No zombies entered while they were out.  They still have three zombies to deal with and any that gunfire might attract but for the moment. . .

Turn 11:
Both sides activate, but the team is just watching and waiting as the zeds approach the cabin.  Unfortunately, there is no window in the back of the cabin so the team has to wait for the zeds to work their way around the sides and front.

Turn 12:
The zombies activate, but the team doesn't this time.  Doesn't really matter since the team is inside the cabin and not moving anyway.  One is at each window and the door so that everyone will know when a zombie appears. 

Bob is not surprised when a zombie appears at the window and naturally fires in reponse, rolling a 6, a 5 and 2 x 4s.  He's hit it twice and ODs it, but the gunfire attracts another zombie. 

Turn 13:
The team activates, but the zombies don't, so nothing happens.  The team wonders what they should do. 

Turn 14:
Everyone's active.  The team waits.  Two zombies appear at the window.  Bob lets loose another round rolling 2 x 5s, a 2 and a 1.  He gets two hits, but can only select one target due to the range.  The second zombie at the window has been following them all the way across the board.  There are still two zombies to deal with, but the gunfire attracts yet another one to their right front while one that was in the trailer climbs out and starts for the cabin!  Wow!  Ahmed just realized he had his bow in the trailer and was thinking of sprinting out to get it.  Good thing he didn't!

Turn 15:
Both sides activate again and the zombies move first.  Bob fires, getting one hit and ODing one of the zeds.  Joe and Ahmed change places so that Joe can use his shotgun against the zombie coming out of the trailer.  He gets two hits from one barrel, rolling 2 x 6s, a 4 and a 2, and ODs the zed in the yard.  No new zombies come out of the woods this turn. 

Turn 16:
Both sides activate and Bob leads the turn by firing at the last zombie in the window.  A 5, a 4, a 3 and a 1: he gets two hits and ODs it.  Both Joe and Ahmed are somewhat surprised when the last zombie rounds the trailer and heads for the door of the cabin.  Joe gets two hits with a 6, a 5, a 2 and a 1, and ODs it.  The gunfire attracts another zombie so it's not quite over yet.

Turn 17:
The team can't see the new zombie because the outhouse is between it and the house.  They decide discretion is the better part of valor, though, and decide to wait a bit before venturing outside again.  Everyone reloads, just in case.

Turn 18:
A tied 1 on the activiation roll results in no activity. 

Turn 19:
The zeds can't move while the team just passes its activation.  "Dang," Angel says.  "I have to go to the bathroom."

Turn 20:
The zeds are still inactive so Angel ventures out the cabin door.  Rolling a 6 she's only able to move 5" and doesn't make it to the outhouse.  She is completely surprised to spot the zed next to the outhouse.  She fires getting 2 x 6s a 3 and a 2.  Even with her surprise, she gets two hits and ODs the zombie. 

 The battle for the cabin is over and peace returns to the woods.  For now. 

Evaluation:
Not as many zeds this time led to not as much happening and a more manageable game.  They probably needed it after the excitement of the last game, although Bob and Joe were both charged at one point.  The biggest problem was getting stuck in the open for so long - 6 turns without being able to move.  In the end they prevailed.  That was a long game with 20 turns, but it went relatively quickly - mainly because no one could do anything!

Alphabet Soup

You know.  FBI.  DEA.  ATF.  Pick an agency of your choice.  Here they are - Rebel Minis' Government Types.  I didn't paint any big yellow letters on the backs of their blue windbreakers, so they can be pretty much anyone - even the ZIA.  That's the Zombie Intelligence Agency, in case you didn't know. 

I just couldn't help but think Rosie O'Donnell when I saw the one second from the right in the second picture.  I could see the scene as if it was playing out in a movie:

"Sir, the zombies are gaining on us."

"Throw them Rosie.  That will keep them busy for a while.  They could feed off of her for days."

"Uh . . . Sir?  They only eat the brains."

"Oh, crap!  In that case, she won't slow them down at all!"

*     *     *     *     *

Hopefully I'll have the next game for you this coming week.  Things were a little crazy around here.  'Course, they're only going to get more crazy for a few days, but I should be able to squeeze in a game.

ATZ Day 1b: The Hunters Become the Hunted

After the last game, I went back and reread the rules and realized that I did a couple of things wrong in the first game.  Shotguns for one.  I misused them.  I should have been rolling more dice per shot.  There would have been more hits (maybe - depending on my bad dice rolling) and more kills earlier and it would have been a shorter game (maybe - depending on my bad dice rolling - and yes, I did repeat that on purpose). 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did a few things right that I wasn't sure about.  That's always good.  I have to go back through the rules again because this next game will be making use of more of the checks so I better make sure I know what I'm doing there.  I thought about making a sort of flow chart or at least a crib sheet that laid out the tests and when to take them.  Did any of you make something like that or did you just flounder back and forth in the rulebook like I do?

Today's game will see our heroes on the move trying to get back to the cabin.  For this game, they have to cross the board of woods as they head back from the fire tower.  Will they make it without becoming a tasty snack for the undead?  As noted above, the guys with shotguns should all do much better now that I have the shotgun rules straight, but Ahmed better sharpen up his shooting if he expects to survive long. . .  (He kind of got thrown into the mix since the only other figures I had with shotguns were Joe's twins.  We need someone to make ordinary citizens with bolt action rifles, etc., as well as SMGs and AKs.)

So. . . here we go for round two. . .

Initial Move:
Angel is Slow and rolls a 6, so the team loses 3" of movement as they opt to stay together rather than leave Angel to the zeds.  They move 5" onto the board.  Of course, nothing is easy - when I roll for zombies, I roll the max and the team faces seven zombies right from the get go.  They have three to the left front, two to the front and one each to the left and right rear.  They aren't aware of the ones to the rear, but should be able to ignore them anyway as they will (hopefully) be moving at least as fast. 

Turn 1:
Activation rolls 3 for the zeds and 1 for the team.  They move second, but all of them can move without a problem.  Bob and Ahmed both pass the In Sight test with two, Angel passes one and Joe passes none meaning that neither Angel nor Joe may fire this turn.

Bob fires, hitting two zombies and ODing (Obviously Dead) one and knocking the other one down.  Ahmed misses and probably shouldn't even bother shooting with his cap gun.  All he's going to do is make them angry.  The team then takes off to the right where there's no zombies.  This time, Angel rolls a 1 and the team can move 7".  No new zombies are generated due to the gunfire.

Turn 2:
Activation is double 3s so neither side can move or fire, but the zed that was knocked down recovers.

Turn 3:
Activation comes up with a 6 for the zeds so they can't move, and a 5 for the team - fortunately, Bob's a Rep 5 so the team can move.  Angel rolls a 1 again allowing the team to move its max, but she and Bob can't resist a parting shot at the zombies.  Angel misses everything, and Bob again gets an OD and a knock down.  No new zombies are generated due to gunfire.  The team's now about half-way across the table. 

Turn 4:
Activation is 3 for the team and 6 for the zeds - zombies go first but can't do anything.  The original ATZ rules (which I'm using) don't provide for PELs like the later ones do (I think) so I'm going to roll for zombies just like an initial placement because the team has now outstripped the ability of the original zeds to intercept them.  After the team moves, they see three zombies to their front and one to their left front.  Another pops up behind them and the remaining zombies will continue to pursue just in case I get a spate of bad die rolls.

Turn 5:
Activation is a 6 for the zeds and a 4 for the team.  The zeds are again paralyzed (this doesn't sound right - am I screwing it up?)  but the team can move normally.  They shift farther to their right in an attemp to avoid the zombies.  Angel rolls her third straight 1 for movement and the team can move 7" again.  On the In Sight test for the new zombies, only Joe passes 2 and can fire.  Joe fires both barrels of his double-barrel shotgun, but only gets one hit because the other targets are secondary targets and miss by one.  He does OD the one he hits, though.  Drat!  Joe brings on the hurt - three new zombies appear due to his fire.  One pops up in front of them, one to their rear and one to their left rear.  Thanks, Joe. . .

Turn 6:
Bad timing, Joe!  The team rolls a 6 for activation pinning them in place, while the zombies activate normally.  Fortunately, the team's last move to the right put a pretty good amount of distance between them and the zeds.  Let's hope we can get some good shooting this time too or someone's going to get munched! 

Bob is the only one to pass the In Sight test on the new zombies so he ODs the one to their front and Angel ODs one of the zombies to their left front while Joe reloads.  Ahmed sensibly holds his fire.  He can't do anything but attract more zeds.  Phew!  No new zombies are attracted by the gunfire.

Turn 7:
Activation comes up with the team moving first on a 4 and the zeds rolled a 3.  Bob ODs the other zombie to the left front and the team takes off.  This time Angel rolls a 5 slowing the team down to 5" this turn.  The team has only 2-1/2" to go to exit the board, but they have three zeds within a 6" move of them. 

Turn 8:
An activation roll of double 5s keeps everyone in place.  The suspense continues.

Turn 9:
OH, NO!  The zeds won the activation with a 4 over the team's 3.  Two zeds charge Bob and one charges Angel.  They both pass their Surprise check for being charged from the flank/rear and their Being Charged check with 2!  Bob ODs the first zed and has to melee with the second, and Angel ODs her zombie.  Bob passes the Melee check by 2 and the zed fails, but Bob fails the 'Pop the Weasel' roll and is stuck in melee!  Fortunately, no new zeds appear from the gunfire, but some of the zeds that were bypassed earlier are starting to catch up. 

Turn 10:
The team again fails to activate, rolling a 6 to the zeds' 1.  The closest zed charges Ahmed, and the other three are now within 4".  Two more zeds are still a little more than a foot away.  This time around, Bob passes 2 more than the zed (he has Brawler) and manages to 'Pop the Weasel'.  Ahmed and his zed both pass 1 leaving them in melee for another turn.  Angel knocks down the closest zombie and Joe ODs one of the farther ones, leaving just one zombie in range, besides Ahmed's friend.  The gunfire attracts two more zeds - one to the left rear and one to the front.  Will they ever be able to escape?

Turn 11:
The team finally won an activation with a 4 to the zeds' 5.  The zeds can't move.  Ahmed breaks off melee and the team beats feet, finally exiting the board safely and leaving 6 zeds behind. 

Evaluation:
WOWZERS!  What a game that was!  Again, I thought it was going to be a cakewalk after the first couple of turns.  Just before exiting the board, everything started to go wrong and it was touch and go for a few turns there until the zeds lost an activation and the team was able to escape.  It appears that I played the rules right this time. 

Next time up, the crew reaches the cabin.  Until then.